Its domain currently ranks 177th in the world, less than half of the country has mobile phone coverage, and only 4% of the population are online. But Mali could be set to become one of the world’s most popular internet destinations after it became the first African country to give its domain away for free.

Mali announced on Monday that its little known .ML domain – which is currently used by fewer than 50 active websites – will be free from July, in a move which it hopes will bring much needed outside investment, and give a boost to Malian businesses.

“We are proud to be the first African nation to give domain names for free,” says Moussa Dolo, general manager of Mali’s Agence des Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication (AGETIC). “By providing free domain names to internet users worldwide, we will put Mali back on the map. We wish to show the rest of the world the fantastic opportunities our country has to offer.”

The new scheme is being operated by Freedom Registry, the company which operates a similar .TK system for Tokelau – the tiny cluster of coral atolls in the South Pacific with a population of less than 2,000 – but which is now the most popular domain name in the world, with more active domain name registrations than Russia and China combined.

“If you look at the Tokelau experience, most registrations for .TK are coming from Turkey – whose name corresponds to the letters,” said Joost Zuurbier from Freedom Registry. “And they are coming from many other emerging economies – China, Vietnam, India – they have a real need for domain space because other domains are full. .com is already taken, and if you want .cn you have to show your ID to the Chinese government. That’s why people have been using .TK – it’s a free alternative, and now .ML will be just as attractive.”

Interest in the .ML domain is expected to come from a number of countries, including Manila in the Philippines, and Malaysia, attracted by the resemblance between the letters and their own names.

Mali’s attempt to revamp its online presence comes as its economy has been devastated by an ongoing conflict, in which an international military intervention has been battling al-qaeda linked insurgents who seized control of the country’s north a year ago.

But some questioned whether the move could really make a difference in a country where internet access and disposable incomes remain low.

“I think the .ML domain free registration process is a good idea on paper and could shed positive light on Mali which is sorely needed,” said Tim Katlic, founder and editor of oAfrica.com, which tracks internet progress in African countries, reports that Mali is experiencing steady online growth. “But in reality, I don’t think it will pan out as expected, since Mali’s Internet users aren’t ready for content creation – they have limited desktop usage, lack of income to afford web hosting even if domain is free, heavy reliance on international social media sites instead of local ones.”

But Freedom Registry said that Mali would also attract extra revenue from the move, with advertising income from domains which lapse split between the company and the Malian authorities.

“Currently we add about 20% to the GDP of Tokelau, and although it is a small country, Mali is much bigger and the potential is huge,” said Zuurbier. “But its not only about the money – to Mali it’s the infrastructure we provide.”

“In the past countries needed to invest heavily in equipment to increase their internet traffic, but now it all exists in the cloud – so its a service that we can provide for them at no charge in Mali. It’s a win-win situation where everyone in Mali will get their domain name for free, internationally people can register domains in Mali for free, and Mali doesn’t have to invest but can still get a lot of international business.”

AFRIKAN GODDESS MAGAZINE is a subsidiary of Afrikan Goddess Media, LLC. Our content is designed with the educated, professional, classy, charming and sassy African woman in mind. We encourage women to express their creativity and ideas through writing, and also serve as a platform for meaningful discussions and exchange of ideas.

“Reading your article stirred me to think deeper about the topic of self-love. Two things immediately came to mind: first, healthy self-love involves a personal journey of acceptance; and second, healthy self-love should ideally lead a person to want to share more love with others. Self-love is part of the process of learning to accept […]

Africa's First Ladies

It’s been eleven series since we first featured our first African First Lady at the beginning of 2012. Since then, we have garnered quite an impressive list of stories into the private and public lives of some of Africa’s most powerful women, including the causes that are dear to their hearts. What we have found […]

While researching the first lady featured this week, I was personally overjoyed to find that she not only is a first lady who embodies the ideal of today’s African woman, but she is also the youngest first lady on the African continent – in her mid-thirties. She is us! (The main AFRIKAN GODDESS MAGAZINE demographic […]

Claudine Dominique Ouattara is the current First Lady of Cote d’Ivoire, and founder of the Children of Africa Foundation, an organization which aims to assist distressed children in Africa not only through various charitable actions and donations, but also through sponsoring well-known and accountable charity groups. Claudine Dominique Ouattara was born on December 16th, 1953 […]

Advertise with Us

Have you always wanted to know how to count from 1 to 20 in another language besides French and Spanish? Well, now you can. Ghanaian author and new mom, Sandra Amoako, has recently created the first book in the “What’s That?” series of bilingual, children’s books. “What’s That? My First Numbers in Twi and English” […]

The movie and music industry is rich with actors with high intellectual abilities such as Juliana Kanyomozi, Namubiru in Uganda. These females are loud and sexy. I bet you, it is almost impossible to watch a film without a sexual scene and one where the female is subordinate. Again there are very few advertisements without […]

Atekit is glued to the sofa reading a novel entitled “The Lion and the Jewel” by Wole Soyinka. She is preparing to sit for her final UCE exams at the end of the year. ‘The Concubine’, by Elechi Amadi; ‘Things Fall Apart’ by Chinua Achebe are part of the set of books examinable by the […]